The state of your mental health may depend on the health of your gut! Probiotics instead of Pills?

Psychobiotics for the Psyche

Many of the patients who come in to see me with the diagnosis of Lyme disease suffer from psychological symptoms, including depression, anxiety, and panic disorders. Sometimes they are diagnosed with OCD, PTSD, bipolar disorder, or even schizophrenia. That is because Lyme disease is the “great imitator”, mimicking every psychiatric diagnosis in an ICD-9 manual. These patients have usually gone to their primary care provider or psychiatrist with these complaints, and leave the office with an SSRI like Prozac, a benzodiazepine like Valium, or antipsychotic medication like Risperdal. We are trained as physicians and mental health providers to automatically go to our prescription pads and write out scripts for these chemical compounds that change our brain chemistry. Although this approach is effective in controlling symptoms, it does not always address the underlying cause of the problem. Is there another way? Read more